Shadow Hunters (A Teaser)
by SerafynaVilkas
Summary: Shadow Hunters, or Hunters for short, are a guild of people who hunt Vhamphyrs - ancient, powerful beings who seek a form of existence by merging and destroying a person's soul and memories, essentially replacing that person. The Scored are the few who manage to survive the process, but fewer keep their minds. Enter Zero and Taki, a Hunter pair after our favourite hero in red... AU


**Shadow Hunters: Special** **Preview**

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"No, Lloyd, you can't leave!" Colette looked to the brunette, cerulean eyes damp with the tears she could no longer shed.

"And why not? For 8 years, you thought that that _thing_ was me. 8 years, Chosen, and that's too long to try and reclaim." Lloyd looked her square in the eye, noticing the small flinch when he addressed her as 'Chosen'. _'Good. Let her realize that this isn't the Lloyd she knew.'_ He didn't care if it made her hate him; that was irrevelant, because he was a Hunter and had nothing to do with the Chosen's Journey.

Colette lowered her eyes to the floor, Raine and Sheena looking on with sad eyes as Genis glared at the other male. Kratos was seated at the table in the corner of the room, looking on with indifference. _'How much suffering has he endured, haunted by his fractured memories? Too much, for someone his age...'_ The last thing the undercover Seraph wanted was for his son to have born such a burden, but it seemed that Fate wouldn't give the ages-old mercenary a break.

Heavy steps moved in the direction of the door to the inn, as Lloyd made to leave. "Taki, let's go." The cherry-haired girl flinched, hearing the sharpness in her partners' voice.

"But Zero..." The poor girl trailed off when a harsh glare was sent her way and she bowed her head. "Okay..." she mumbled, following the elder male as she smiled sadly at the people she had become friends with.

Lloyd - or Zero as he was now called - stopped when a deep tenor called out to him. "Zero, wait." All eyes in the room turned to the mercenary, Kratos getting up from his spot in the corner. "What do you intend to do...with Anna's exshpere?" A small sigh was heard as Zero pulled the tarnished gem out of his pocket.

He held it, gazing over the now blue-black gem and noting the crack running through it. "It's proof... proof that the Vhamphyr was destroyed. After I show it to the others in the guild... I don't know." Mahogany orbs travelled over to the stoic man, observing him for a minute. "Maybe, if we cross paths again, I'll give it to you. After all, she meant as much to you as she did to me, before..." He trailed off, everyone knowing already of what he meant.

With that, Zero left the building with Taki in tow. Kratos closed his eyes as he sat back down in the chair, ignoring the questioning - or in Raine's case, accusing - looks of the others in the room...

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_**A/N: **__yes, yes, i know, i know. those of you wondering where i've been, or why i'm putting up something entirely different from the stories on my profile, let me explain. NO, i have not forgotten _The Hidden Darkness_, or it's spin-off; merely, it's being put under close scrutinization and being heavily revised. This story here is just a tease, and part venting, and i'm entirely 99.99% sure i'll be working on this during NaNoWriMo next month as a personal project. maybe, if i get enough chapters done and there's positive feedback, i'll post the full story. (what's above is a part of the story, but isn't even typed out yet! X3 )_

_as for the other two i have, the HP ones... _Drown and Lost_ (still not sure if that's the title i'm keeping) is underway...slowly... -;; _Not What They Seem_ is, well... i need to plan it out. eehehehehe. ^-^;; I also had a kind of mini-breakdown last night and this morning, thinking that the jumpdrive i lost had all my Word docs (fanfics and resume among them), but NOPE! it was the one that had all of my PICTURES! O^O||'' between that, school, and being worked like a dog at wal-mart, plus my lack of a laptop (still), things just kinda...got put on the back burner. lol But hopefully I'll be a bit more active in the future!_


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